ARSENAL 1-2 SWANSEA - MATT BARLOW AT THE EMIRATES: Arsenal's contribution to the title race no-one wants to win was this rather sorry home defeat against a Swansea team without their manager and with six players rested. It was not the reaction Arsene Wenger had expected after the defeat at Manchester United on Sunday. Joel Campbell's opener should have eased any anxieties but the problems seem to be a more deeply rooted in the Arsenal dressing room.

WEST HAM 1-0 TOTTENHAM - MARTIN SAMUEL AT UPTON PARK: All they had to do was win. Sounds easy, doesn't it? After all, Tottenham put four past West Ham the last time they played. It's different now, though. This was a win to go top of the league, by the team increasingly acclaimed as the title favourites. So it wasn't like any win Tottenham have searched for all season.

LIVERPOOL 3-0 MANCHESTER CITY - IAN LADYMAN AT ANFIELD: You would always rather have the cup than the revenge but as a response to disappointment, this was still spectacular from Liverpool. After Sunday's shoot-out defeat in the Capital One Cup final, Liverpool would not have relished seeing Manchester City again.

MANCHESTER UNITED 1-0 WATFORD BY CHRIS WHEELER AT OLD TRAFFORD: So much has been made of the spirit of youth at Manchester United in recent days. The startling emergence of Marcus Rashford and all those young debutants blooded by Louis van Gaal. But when it really mattered it was the oldest player in the side, Juan Mata, who stepped up to make the difference.

Steve Jones - television broadcaster, actor and model best known as first season host of America's The X Factor - is to be the new presenter of Channel Four's Formula One coverage which starts this month.

The former Sunderland player had already admitted grooming and kissing the schoolgirl. A jury has today found him guilty of putting his hand down her trousers when she met him in his car. The 28-year-old was accompanied by his girlfriend, Stacey Flounders (left) into court this morning. The player, who was sacked by his club after his initial guilty pleas, now faces a potential jail term and is unlikely ever to play football again. The case also raises questions for Sunderland, who allowed Johnson to continue playing for them even after he told them he had groomed the girl.

During a break in proceedings in the early part of his three-week trial - which concluded today with a jury finding him guilty of sexual activity with a 15-year-old schoolgirl - the former England international was scolded by the judge for his 'discourteous behaviour', something journalists were unable to report at the time.

LAURIE WHITWELL AT THE BRITANNIA: Steve McClaren failed to offer a wholly convincing response when asked after this latest defeat whether he would remain in charge at Newcastle United until the end of the season. 'I don't see any reason why not,' he said. It rather summed up his side, who are consistently unable to pinpoint the deficiencies that are beginning to cut them adrift from the rest of the Premier League. Newcastle spent the most money on transfers in Europe during January, but have little to show by way of results and at Stoke succumbed to their seventh successive away defeat in all competitions.

MALAGA 1-2 VALENCIA BY PETE JENSON: Denis Cheryshev claimed three precious points for Gary Neville's side after Malaga goalkeeper Carlos Kameni had punched the ball into the back of his own net to gift his side an equaliser

Kimi Raikkonen became the first Formula One driver to run with the Halo closed cockpit system on Thursday as Ferrari fitted the frame to their car at pre-season testing in Barcelona. The device is the FIA's preferred solution to concerns over cockpit protection and they hope to introduce the design in 2017.

Holders Juventus survived a thrilling comeback by Inter Milan to win 5-3 on penalties and book their place in the Italian Cup final against AC Milan. Inter led 3-0 after 90 minutes to draw the clubs level 3-3 on aggregate after Juventus won the opening leg 3-0 with two goals from Alvaro Morata plus one from Paulo Dybala.

DUNDEE UNITED 0-1 ABERDEEN: Those who believe that Aberdeen lack the bottle and the belief to usurp Celtic as Premiership champions this season would be well advised to keep their own counsel for a while yet.

Conor McGregor has admitted a shot at the welterweight title has jumped to the top of his wish list. The Irishman, who holds the featherweight belt, was due to face Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196 this weekend before the Brazilian pulled out with a broken foot. Instead he will take on Nate Diaz in a hastily-arranged fight at 170lb and should he win, McGregor could then target champion Robbie Lawler.

Miesha Tate is confident she can give Holly Holm a taste of her own medicine by knocking out the UFC champion. Holm won the bantamweight title last November when she stopped Ronda Rousey with a vicious kick to the head. But Tate believes she can produce a similar result when she challenges for the belt at UFC 196.

LEVANTE 1-3 REAL MADRID BY RIK SHARMA: After stepping out and boldly declaring 'If the rest of my team-mates were at my level, we'd be first,' Cristiano Ronaldo needed to back his words up with actions against Levante, to speak on the pitch, not just the mixed zone. He duly did, scoring Madrid's first and creating the third for Isco, but this was not a convincing team performance at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium from Zinedine Zidane's men.

A blazing row between British riders and their coaches erupted during the opening session of the Track Cycling World Championships after the women's team sprint pair failed to qualify for this summer's Olympics. Jess Varnish and Katy Marchant will not be participating in the event in Rio after finishing fifth in London in 32.903sec - they needed to finish three places ahead of the seventh-placed French in the two-woman, two-lap race - and the pair responded by blaming their superiors for tinkering too much with selection in training and in previous qualification events. China were quickest, with Russia second. They will duel for gold Thursday, with Germany and Australia riding for bronze.

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: Rugby is a great game. For girls and boys, men and women, parents and spectators it is a sport which brings out the very best in us. The game is filled with fine values. There is fierce competition between teams but sportsmanship, courage, togetherness and character shine through in victory and defeat.

England duo Chris Robshaw and James Haskell took time out of the squad's training camp at the University of Bath this week to take in some of the city's tourist attractions. Forwards Robshaw and Haskell visited the Roman Baths, a historic spa complex, for which the Somerset city is most famous. Eddie Jones' men have been put through their paces at the university's Sports Training Village facility ahead of the Six Nations match against Wales on March 12.

Johanna Konta is through to the quarter-finals of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme after a straight-sets victory over Yanina Wickmayer. The British No 1 prevailed in two tie-breaks to beat her Belgian opponent.

How would you like a sprinting session with Dina Asher-Smith? Running with Britain's fastest woman was an opportunity Sportsmail deemed too good to miss, even when closely followed by the punchline that I would have to wear a blindfold throughout. Alongside Paralympic silver medallist Libby Clegg, Asher-Smith delivers a workshop to a group of primary school children, some with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. Then it is time to don the bright green blindfold myself and London's Lee Valley Athletics centre is plunged into darkness. With Asher-Smith as my guide we are attached at the wrist by a blue cotton tether. The idea is to mimic the environment for a visually impaired sprinter as part of a campaign to make sport more accessible for disabled children.

Rafael dos Anjos' manager has hit out at Conor McGregor for claiming the lightweight champion had only bruised his foot. Dos Anjos was due to defend his title against McGregor, who holds the featherweight belt, this weekend. But he pulled out last week with a broken foot suffered in training and was replaced by Nate Diaz.

FOOTBALL

BAYERN MUNICH 1-2 MAINZ: Bayern Munich slumped to their first defeat for three months when the Bundesliga leaders suffered a shock 2-1 reverse at home to Mainz on Wednesday. Jhon Cordoba snatched the winner for the visitors in the 86th minute. Borussia Dortmund closed the gap at the top to five points as they beat Darmstadt 2-0 ahead of the second-placed club's meeting with Bayern on Saturday.

Fellaini has not featured for the Reds since their 1-1 with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last month and it was reported the Belgian international had succumbed to a hamstring injury. As he awaits his return to the first team set-up Fellaini decided he was in need of brotherly love and took an afternoon stroll with his twin.

Argentine striker Martin Bravo scored twice as Santos Laguna demolished LA Galaxy 4-0 on Wednesday morning to reach the CONCACAF Champions League semi-finals. Bravo opened the scoring in the 18th minute and added a strike in the 61st for the Guerreros, who are trying to qualify for their first final since the 2012-2013 season. Ulises Davila, formerly of Chelsea, scored in the 23rd minute and Djaniny Tavares, from Cape Verde, in the 36th, also netted for Santos, who will face the winner of the quarter-final between Club America and Seattle Sounders.

PAOK Salonika owner Ivan Savvidis withdrew his team from the Greek Cup and called for the resignation of Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) president Giorgos Girtzikis after the semi-final first leg against Olympiakos Piraeus was abandoned due to a pitch invasion on Wednesday. With Super League champions Olympiakos leading 2-1 in the 86th minute at a hostile Toumba stadium, PAOK were denied what looked like a clear penalty when Slovakia midfielder Robert Mak was felled by visiting keeper Stefano Kampino. PAOK's players and supporters were incensed at the decision, prompting large groups of fans to storm on to the pitch with riot police forced to intervene.

David Silva showed he's capable of providing a touch of class off the pitch as well as on it by handing his Capital One Cup winner's medal to Manu Garcia. The Manchester City playmaker, who was substituted in the 110th minute of his side's penalty shootout victory against Liverpool, made the kind gesture after Garcia missed out on a medal.

MATT BARLOW: Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will certainly try to keep Guus Hiddink (picture today at a Yokohama Tyres launch) inside his inner-circle in an advisory role when he leaves at the end of the season. Hiddink is clearly a soothing presence, a master at cajoling and massaging egos.

OTHER SPORTS NEWS

Victoria Pendleton made every yard of the running to notch her first win as a jockey aboard Pacha Du Polder in the Betfair Switching Saddles Hunters' Chase at Wincanton. The dual Olympic cycling champion was unshipped from Paul Nicholls' charge on her first start under National Hunt Rules at Fakenham just under two weeks ago, but the duo made no mistake this time. Sharply away, Pendleton survived a couple of sticky leaps to triumph aboard the 5-4 favourite, running out a 29-length victor.

Amir Khan got yet another opportunity to size-up Canelo Alvarez when the pair squared off at the Hard Rock cafe on Tuesday. It was the latest stop on a media tour which took the 29-year-old Bolton boxer and the Mexican idol to London at the weekend ahead of their superfight which takes place on May 7. And Khan again looked comfortable alongside the middleweight champion despite the fact that he is moving up two weight classes to meet the dangerous 25-year-old who has only lost once in his professional career.

Conor McGregor is putting his final preparations together for UFC 196 by cutting a fresh cut before going toe-to-toe with Nate Diaz. The Irishman, who was meant to fight Rafael dos Anjos before he withdrew with a broken foot, has gone up 25lbs from featherweight to welterweight as he continues his quest to dominate UFC. And with the fight just days away McGregor and his movement coach Ido Portal, who posted the snap on Instagram, are making sure they look the part.

Monty Panesar will take what could be the first step of the rest of his career when he bowls in the nets at Northamptonshire on Thursday - as he aims to get himself in the fold for England's winter tours.

THE BEST WRITING IN SPORT

JACK GAUGHAN: Fletcher Moss Rangers, the youth football club on the banks of the Mersey in Manchester, have an astounding record of producing Premier League stars. Manchester United's most recent hero, Marcus Rashford, is one of an eye-catching list that includes Wes Brown, Danny Welbeck, Ravel Morrison, Jesse Lingard and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson. But, as their academy development officer Dave Horrocks explains, they are struggling to make ends meet

If Manchester United start handing out £2m for six-year-olds, where does that end? The queue of local clubs demanding a seven-figure cheque will stretch from the Old Trafford car park to the centre of town.